BIG ERECTIONS

07:33BST 7/10/08PEK

i dont think there's a word in chinese for subtlty. everything here is gigantic. the highway system, the cities, the hotels, the temples, the monuments, and most definitely the airport. i thought pudong was big, i was mistaken. i think mr. lei told me that the beijing airport is the biggest in the world - and i believe it. i wanted to take a bunch of pictures, but for some reason, whenever i see the chinese guards i feel like if i take pictures they will think im a spy or something. youll have to forgive my paranoia and ensuing lack of pictures. dui bu qi.

so last night i went to dinner with mr. feng bei and his underling, lily. i now understand why mr. feng couldnt play tour guide with me, hes kind of a big deal. he is a general manager of a company, owns his own car, and is pretty much a baller. i dont know if it was a front or not, but he made a point to let me know that he worked hard and had a lot of money. his assistant, lily was mongolian, very pretty and very smart. she actually got her masters from northwood! when i heard this, i exclaimed that it was a really good business school, she was really happy to hear this and told mr. feng that she deserved a raise. ah awkward moments. i wanted to practice my chinese, but they wanted to practice their english so i of course obliged.

dinner was awesome, we had traditional peking duck, asparagus and duck tongue (note to self, dont ever eat duck tongue again ::shudder::), sweet corn and pine nuts, turnip cakes, chinese cabbage and some sort of large nut in congealed sauce, garlic toast with what im calling fois gras, and some sort of duck fat-laden soup. quick review: good god the duck was amazing, the corn was tastey, the cabbage and nuts were good but the sauce was a bit much, the asparagus rocked, the tongues ill leave to your imagination, the soup was too heavy, the cakes were reminiscint of sweet potatoe and the fois gras was really good.

we went back to the hotel and i pretty much fell asleep... at 830. i had to be in the lobby at 530 so i was pretty dismayed when i woke up and it was 515. sorry shower, you will just have to wait. i said goodbye to mr. lei but picked up a new friend, zhao hong. she lives in beijing but her xiaohai (little one), husband, and parents live in kunming. she is mr. lei's friend. we have the same flight, but she doesnt speak a lot of english - our conversation thus far has been pretty shallow. thats okay though, im excited enough to talk to her at all.

im not sure how long the flight will be, but i hope the beverage service is soon. im terrified of drinking anything not in a bottle, so i often go unwatered. this cloud has a silver lining as it helps me achieve my goal of limiting my use of the squatters. however, i think i will die of thirst if i dont drink something soon. im boarding now, goodbye beijing, hello kunming!

update 09:02BST, no beverage service yet. i cant believe how much pollution is in the air. when i look at pictures taken of famous buildings in the cities, i wonder how much doctoring the photos required to not appear smoggy.